Very Vientiane

Posted on April 6, 2007
Filed Under Daily News |

Red Flag

I got back to Mae Sot yesterday morning after spending almost five days going to Vientiane on a visa run. It was a long trip, and a lot of hassle and time wasted that could have been spent on more productive things.

With my 60 day tourist visa about to expire, I had planned on heading to the friendship bridge just outside of town to get a 30 day visa on arrival, by crossing over to the Burma side and coming straight back. However, a few days before my visa expired, the Burmese closed the border crossing. Supposedly, the move was in response to Thailand’s decision to close another border checkpoint further south.

That move followed the abduction of two border patrol policemen by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a pro-junta splinter group. And, the end result of their actions is I have to catch an overnight bus to Bangkok, spend a day in Bangkok and then catch an overnight train to Nong Khai on the Thai-Laos border. I’d booked an air-conditioned second class seat, which meant 12 hours in one of the most uncomfortable seats ever, with very little leg room.

Me and all the backpackers, English teachers, assorted Filipinas and anyone else who needed a Thai visa arrived at Nong Khai early in the morning and headed for the border, after clearing immigration on the Thai side, you have to go over and apply for a visa on arrival for Laos, which means spending US$35 and waiting around in the summer heat.

Once the visa has been granted, you have to queue up again to pass through Laos immigration. Why these two steps couldn’t be combined I don’t know. All, I know is it was very hot and myself and everybody else spent a long time just standing around.

Once the formalities are cleared, there was a mad dash in a tuk-tuk to cover the 20 odd kilometres from the border to Vientiane in order to get to the Thai embassy in time to submit a visa application before the twelve o’clock deadline.

Once you arrive at the embassy, you are directed to the visa section, which consists of a small covered area in the embassy grounds. With only two counters, and a hundred odd people waiting in line to submit their visa application, there was a long queue. Then its inside, for more waiting until your name is called and you pay the 1,000 baht fee. Again, why these two steps cannot be combined is a mystery to me.

It takes a day to process the applications, so I had to spend the night in Vientiane. I had made a reservation online at a reasonable looking hotel: It had air-con, and breakfast for US$20 per night.

Being one of the poorest countries in the world, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic doesn’t have much to offer the urbane traveller. So, I spent most of my free-time in Vientiane catching up on my sleep and watching football on the TV in my room.

Once I had collected my new visa, it was on to the back of a tuk-tuk and straight to the border. I got to Nong Khai about five hours before the train to Bangkok was due to leave, and paid for a sleeper berth. Sweet!

Nong Khai station

Once back in Bangkok, I had the day to kill, before catching my bus back to Mae Sot. So, I did what I always do when I’m in Bangkok: Went to the cinema.

Saw 300 at the cinema in Siam Paragon, which has to have the best seats of any cinema I’ve ever been to. These ones actually recline! That wasted about two hours, but with my bus not leaving until 10:20 that evening, I had plenty of time to spare.

Mo Chit

Thankfully, I managed to resist the temptation to spend the time wondering around the malls, buying things simply on the basis that I know they’re not available in Mae Sot.

Normally, my train of thought is along the lines of: “Well, I don’t need a copy of the Oxford English dictionary [or whatever], but I better get one while I’m here, because who knows when I’ll next be able to pick one up.”

So, now I’m back in Mae Sot and crashing to catch up on my work, with Easter this weekend and the Songkran festival next week, there is much to do.